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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6715099" data-attributes="member: 4937">That's just the thing...  by RAW, he's not even qualified for the Small Water Elemental.  He's got the Aquatic subtype.  The elemental has the Water subtype.  The two aren't the same thing.  If he was qualified for the water elemental, and if he had asked to substitute the water elemental for the air elemental, and if he was a player who wasn't normally the sort to bend rules to his advantage, then it might not be a huge issue.  But by RAW he's not qualified for either the water elemental or the air elemental, but something like a sea otter or a snapping turtle.  Of course, both of those being animals requires improved elemental.   There are probably some 1-2 CR, diminutive or tiny creatures, with the aquatic subtype (Nixie?), that he could reasonably ask to take using Improved Familiar, but that's not what he's done.  He continually assumes that he can stretch the rules without asking, and usually stretches the rules in ways that aren't really logical for the character, and he quite clearly doesn't care what other people think.An air elemental is vastly more powerful/useful than a water elemental if only because it can fly with perfect maneuverability with a 100ft movement rate.   I know perfectly well why he wants the air elemental.   Because he doesn't want his aquatic race to be tied to an aquatic environment.  He wants a familiar that excels in most situations because air is usually something that is around, and it is a rare occasion that the party is swimming.   Maybe if he'd started with a humble request to qualify for a water elemental based off of his aquatic subtype, I would have seen that (particularly with this player) as being comparatively reasonable.  But at this point, even allowing the water elemental is a concession that rewards his rule breaking.  Personally, at a very high level I agree that Improved Familiar is too restrictive in how you qualify for familiar.  I'm sympathetic to the idea, "I should be able to get an air elemental as a familiar without needing to be a Djinn or something."  In my game, his character concept translates to something like taking the feats Seafolk Blood, Elementalist (Air), Find Familiar and Improved Familiar (Small Air Elemental).  It's relatively easy to do, already pre-approved, and a power gamer like him would probably just geek out over all the cool stuff that gives you (because really, in the RAW, having a familiar is more of a drawback than an advantage).  I tend to be a DM that wants the player to have a "cool" character.  I also tend to be a DM that expects that respect for the player's desires to be repaid with respect for the fact this is my table, and not just try to run roughshod over me and by extension all the other players.  You want to do something that isn't in the agreed upon rules, then you have the common courtesy to ask first.  And about the third time I have to remind you of that, I get more than a little bit concerned about your ability to play a cooperative social game.  And about the third time you ask for something dumb with pure powergamer motives, I'm going to be like, "I didn't write a 500 page house rules document carefully listing all the approved character building options because I liked arguing with players over what sort of concepts they could build."Greenfield runs a game with multiple DMs and very carefully agreed upon table rules.  In that situation, since there is no one authority over the table, respect for the agreed upon rules is even more important.  How this problem child has managed to stay in game like that while flagrantly insulting everyone else the table repeatedly, I have no idea.  It would be one thing if this was just basic immaturity as a player, but he learned from his mistakes.   But he keeps doing the same basic disrespectful things over and over again.   That, and not the elemental itself, is the huge thing.</blockquote>

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