D&D 5E (2014) Where is the Stat Block for the smaller elementals

[Bardic Dave]

"type" is not listed in the spell, sorry, don't add words

Please don't be rude to people who are only trying to be helpful. It could be written more clearly, I agree. We've explained how the spell works to you however.

 

[Paraxis]

"type" is not listed in the spell, sorry, don't add words

You don't have to, just read the spell and understand "elemental" is a type not a specific creature.

The Conjure Elemental spell lets you summon water weirds, salamanders, and xorns too in case you didn't know.

Just like they don't use the word "type" in the spell descriptions of conjure animals or conjure celestials.

 

[Joe Liker]

"type" is not listed in the spell, sorry, don't add words

The word "type" is also not mentioned in conjure animals, conjure fey, or conjure celestial.

Yet, in the absence of MM entries for "Beast," "Fey," and "Celestial," people somehow figured out how to use those spells. Conjure minor elementals is no different.

 

[Staffan]

"type" is not listed in the spell, sorry, don't add words

I don't need to. It's the same wording as in the other conjure spells. "You summon a celestial of challenge rating 4 or lower." "You summon fey creatures". "You summon elementals".

A fire snake is an elemental. Says so right in the stat block: "Medium elemental, neutral evil". It is also challenge 1, making it a valid target for conjure minor elementals.

The alternative would be to make up at least sixteen new monsters (CR 2, 1, 1/2, and 1/4, each in four elements) that would pretty much never be used outside that one spell.

 

[SkidAce]

Or create four CR 1 "minor" elementals.

You folks are correct about summoning mephits, fire snakes, etc.

But there has been precedent in the past for varying level of elementals (minor / greater) etc, so its understandable that people are looking for them.

 

[SkidAce]

A curious question, should they ever introduce higher level conjure elemental spells, would then potentially Marid and Efreet count?

 

[Nergal Pendragon]

Again, the problem lies with nomenclature. The word "elemental" means two different things in 5e (and historically in 3e and, I think, 4e as well):

1. Any creature primarily composed of an element and/or originating on the elemental planes.

2. The four specific creatures "air elemental", "earth elemental", "fire elemental", and "water elemental".

The spell conjure minor elementals uses the word in the first sense. That's just like conjure animals summons beasts, or conjure celestial summons any kind of celestial.

This would have been a lot easier if they had used a different word for either one of the two uses. But then again, D&D has a history of confusing nomenclature, with the word "level" being the prime example.

This reminds me of an OotS comic about the word "level" and how many problems in DnD would have been solved if someone at TSR had bought a thesaurus.

 

[MerricB]

This reminds me of an OotS comic about the word "level" and how many problems in DnD would have been solved if someone at TSR had bought a thesaurus.

It's actually got a section in the (first edition) AD&D Players Handbook:

An Explanation of the Usages of the Term "level": The term level has multiple meanings in this game system. Although substitute terminology could have been used in ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, common usage of the term level to include multiple meanings is prevalent amongst existing players, so the term has been retained herein. The usages for level are:

1. Level as an indication of Character power: A player character begins the game at 1st level, i.e. the lowest possible level for a player character. The higher the level number, the more powerful the character is.

2. Level as used to indicate the depth of the dungeon complex beneath the ground: The 1st level of a dungeon is the first layer of the underground complex of tunnels, passages, rooms, chambers, and so forth. It is the 1st level beneath the ground. Beneath the 1st level is the 2nd, below that is the 3rd. 4th, Sth, etc. The higher the number, the lower the dungeon level (and the more hazardous its perils).

3. Level as a measure of magic spell difficulty: The magic spells available to some classes of characters are graded by difficulty factor - which, incidentally, reflects the spells' effectiveness to some extent. 1st level spells are the basic ones available to beginning characters. They are generally the least powerful spells. Next come 2nd level spells, then come 3rd level spells, and so on. The highest level of any type of magic spell is 9th level, spells usable only by 18th level magic-users - lesser magic-users can possibly employ such spells under certain circumstances which are explained hereafter, but only at considerable risk.

4. Level as a gauge of a "monster's'' potential threat: Relatively weak creatures, monsters with few hit points, limited or non-existent magical abilities, those which do little damage when attacking, and those which have weak, or totally lack, venom are grouped together and called 1st level monsters. Slightly more powerful creatures are ordered into 2nd level, then comes 3rd. 4th, 5th, and so on all the way up to 10th level (the highest, which includes the greatest monsters, demon princes, etc.).

It was initially contemplated to term character power as rank, spell complexity was to be termed power, and monster strength was to be termed as order. Thus, instead of a 9th level character encountering a 7th level monster on the 8th dungeon level and attacking it with a 4th level spell, the terminology would have been: A 9th rank character encountered a 7th order monster on the 8th (dungeon) level and attacked it with a 4th power spell. However, because of existing usage, level is retained throughout with all four meanings, and it is not as confusing as it may now seem.

Cheers!

 

[Staffan]

A curious question, should they ever introduce higher level conjure elemental spells, would then potentially Marid and Efreet count?

Conjure elemental is already "pumpable" - casting it with a higher-level spell slot lets you summon a higher-CR elemental, +1 CR per level. Unfortunately, that means that the highest-CR elemental you can summon with it is CR 9, and the genies are all CR 11.

But should you manage to get an 11th spell slot somehow, you could use it to summon an efreet with conjure elemental.

 

[Staffan]

This reminds me of an OotS comic about the word "level" and how many problems in DnD would have been solved if someone at TSR had bought a thesaurus.

Seriously, if there's one thing you couldn't complain about regarding Gary Gygax, it was his vocabulary.