But even the common elemental is bright enough to know it does not like being taken off of its home plane and held in the Prime Material plane. This low intelligence makes it difficult for the elemental to resist a magical summons. All common elementals share one major characteristic, however. These will be covered individually, by elemental type, in the next few pages. For example, a fire elemental could set the ground on fire around the creature and wait for the blaze to spread.Įach of the four types of common elemental has its own particular strengths and weaknesses, attack modes and method of movement, depending on its plane of origin. However, the elemental can attack creatures protected by the spell as long as it doesn't touch them. An elemental cannot strike a creature protected by this spell and must recoil from the spell's boundaries. Though elementals do enjoy protection from many nonmagical attacks in the Prime Material plane, like all extraplanar and conjured creatures, elementals are affected by protection from evil spells. (Magical abilities include such characteristics as breath weapons, poisons, paralysis, or even being immune to normal weapon attacks.) Orcs, for example, are powerless against a conjured elemental unless one happens to possess a weapon with +2 or better bonus to hit. Creatures with under four Hit Dice and without any magical abilities cannot harm an elemental either. Elementals are not harmed by any nonmagical weapons or magical weapons of less than +2 bonus. Their magical nature gives elementals great protection from attacks on the Prime Material plane. While there are many more powerful and more intelligent residents of the elemental planes, the common elemental is the easiest to contact, and therefore the most frequently summoned.
#Elemental plane of water manual#
(See the Manual of the Planes for more information on the nature of the various elemental planes.) Each elemental must adopt a shell in the Prime Material composed of the basic element it represents, and once this shell is destroyed, the elemental will return to its native plane. They normally reside on an elemental Inner Plane and will only be encountered on the Prime Material plane if they are summoned by magical means.