Check the description again. No such ability is mentioned. They don't even have a Burrow speed.Shard O'Glase said:
Why would you summon elementals?
- Thread starter Pielorinho
- Start date
Hypersmurf
Moderatarrrrh...
The SRD is all well and good, but it often omits crucial information.
Read the Monster Manual.
-Hyp.
Read the Monster Manual.
-Hyp.
My two cents:
Elementals are grossly underpowered when they come in Small, Medium, and Large sizes.
However, when you summon ones that are Huge, Greater, or Elder then their powers increase exponentially.
Not only to they have DR, but their to-hit rolls are outstanding and their hit points are out of this world when compared to equivalent monsters of their level.
Also, Paraelementals (especially the Ooze but not the Ice) significantly ovepower their elmental counterparts.
If you summon a Huge, Greater, or Elder Ooze Paraelemental you can pretty much guarantee that your foe's armor and/or weapons will be dissolved (even if they are magical).
Being grappled by a Greater Ooze Paraelemental means you make a DC 25 Reflex save or your armor goes bye bye (-4 penalty on the save BTW).
Elementals are grossly underpowered when they come in Small, Medium, and Large sizes.
However, when you summon ones that are Huge, Greater, or Elder then their powers increase exponentially.
Not only to they have DR, but their to-hit rolls are outstanding and their hit points are out of this world when compared to equivalent monsters of their level.
Also, Paraelementals (especially the Ooze but not the Ice) significantly ovepower their elmental counterparts.
If you summon a Huge, Greater, or Elder Ooze Paraelemental you can pretty much guarantee that your foe's armor and/or weapons will be dissolved (even if they are magical).
Being grappled by a Greater Ooze Paraelemental means you make a DC 25 Reflex save or your armor goes bye bye (-4 penalty on the save BTW).
Shard O'Glase said:
Absoultely right. Under desicrption of earth elemental: It can travel through solid ground or stone as easily as humans walk on the earth's surface.
Which means no castle is safe from a couple of these babies.
Elementals aren't about power, its about their abilities. A large air elemental can fly perfectly, and can carry you. Its whirlwind ability lets it suck up creatures and hold them for at least 4 rounds. Its a reflex save, which sucks for many creatures and fighters- and if you fail you are basically taken out of combat for 4 rounds.
Earth elementals can bypass walls and doors, hell you can send them in to fight in a dungeon before you even go in. And their push allows you to get many AOO on opponents, because few creatures have the str of an EE.
Fire elementals create a great deal of fires by hitting and being hit, doing damage and forcing opponents to put out the flames.
And of course water elementals for water.
While they are not huge shields or damage dealers, neither are most things on the summoning list. But there abilities can come in quite handy.
Hand of Vecna
First Post
If you need to burn down a forest, what faster way than to summon a bunch of Fire Elementals? Not only will you be happy (that you're getting the job done), but they'll be happy, to. Plus, it looks really impressive, seeing living, sentient flame 'feasting'....
Elementals are immune to crits and mind-affecting spells, and IIRC they're the only creatures on the summoning lists that have those immunities. Air elementals can fly, earth elementals can pass through rock, fire elementals can be nasty in HTH and can start fires, while water elementals can put out fires and swim.
But I do think the lower-level elementals are fairly weak. The higher-level ones can be nasty melee opponents, though.
But I do think the lower-level elementals are fairly weak. The higher-level ones can be nasty melee opponents, though.
Lord Zardoz
Explorer
Its all about the secondary abilities..
When your summoning an Elemental, its not so much about the HP, AC, attack bonus, and damage as it is about the secondary abilities.
First up, all elementals are immune to Critical Hits, Poison, Sleep, Paralysis, and Stunning attacks. The most important here is the critical hit immunity. Another thing is that they tend to be True Neutral. This means that a Protection from (Alignment) spell is not as effective against them.
Air Elementals:
Mobility: Perfect flying, high movement rate. They also have Flyby Attack.
Whirl Wind: They can impede the movement of opponents, and obscure vision.
Earth Elementals:
Mobility: Being able to go under ground means they can easily get into flanking positions.
High Str: If you need something broken, smashed, or moved, then they can likely do this for you.
Fire Elementals:
Start Lots of Fires: If you should ever feel the need to raze large parts of a city, or to destroy lots of property, this is the way to do it.
Water Elementals:
Sink Boats: This is much more effective then simply attacking hostile pirates.
Vortex: As air elemental, but under water.
While an Elemental may not have as many obvious abilities and bonuses as other summoned creatures, one should not forget the indirect benefits either.
END COMMUNICATION
When your summoning an Elemental, its not so much about the HP, AC, attack bonus, and damage as it is about the secondary abilities.
First up, all elementals are immune to Critical Hits, Poison, Sleep, Paralysis, and Stunning attacks. The most important here is the critical hit immunity. Another thing is that they tend to be True Neutral. This means that a Protection from (Alignment) spell is not as effective against them.
Air Elementals:
Mobility: Perfect flying, high movement rate. They also have Flyby Attack.
Whirl Wind: They can impede the movement of opponents, and obscure vision.
Earth Elementals:
Mobility: Being able to go under ground means they can easily get into flanking positions.
High Str: If you need something broken, smashed, or moved, then they can likely do this for you.
Fire Elementals:
Start Lots of Fires: If you should ever feel the need to raze large parts of a city, or to destroy lots of property, this is the way to do it.
Water Elementals:
Sink Boats: This is much more effective then simply attacking hostile pirates.
Vortex: As air elemental, but under water.
While an Elemental may not have as many obvious abilities and bonuses as other summoned creatures, one should not forget the indirect benefits either.
END COMMUNICATION
Re: Its all about the secondary abilities..
Well, assuming that the elementals are summoned and not called (e.g. Gate), then Protection from (Alignment) stops them no matter what. If a creature is summoned, then the Protection spells hedge them out and prevents them from making melee attacks.
Lord Zardoz said:
Well, assuming that the elementals are summoned and not called (e.g. Gate), then Protection from (Alignment) stops them no matter what. If a creature is summoned, then the Protection spells hedge them out and prevents them from making melee attacks.
Re: Its all about the secondary abilities..
Being Neutral isn't enough, the summoned creature needs to an alignment opposed to what the Protection From spell wards against. Since all elementals on the summoning lists are True Neutral, they are blocked by all of the Protection From spells.Lord Zardoz said:
http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/srd/srdspellsp.html
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