Editing Elemental

[[File:Elemental 4e.jpg|thumb|The original Fantastic Four]]
An '''Elemental''' is a nebulous breed of monster defined by its strong connection to the power of the [[Element]]s. The most iconic depiction of the elemental is as the incarnate spirit of a given element, causing it to manifest as a (usually roughly humanoid) entity comprised solely of elemental matter - a swirling mass of wind or flame, a mobile clump of earth or a [[slime]]-like animate puddle of water. However, many different monsters have been considered "elementals" over the years.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cT495xKvvs A Pixar movie about them is in the works.]

=Real-World=
As a basic concept meaning "magical being that embodies or personifies a force of nature", the elemental has been around a ''very'' long time. The idea is practically universal, and has its roots in everything from [[gods]] and [[nymph]]s to more modernistic "fairy tale" beings like Jack Frost.

The most well-known real-world belief about elementals, and probably that which has had the greatest impact on fantasy gaming, is that created by the 16th century alchemist Paracelsus, who defined four main "races" of elemental - [[Gnome]]s of Earth, [[Salamander]]s of Fire, [[Sylph]]s of Air and [[Undine]]s of Water - as part of his personal alchemical philosophy, because it wasn't until a few centuries ago that folks realized that just making shit up isn't good science. Other prominent alchemists with similar theories include Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and the Comte de Gabalis, whilst elementals were integral in the belief system of the Rosicrucians.

=Dungeons & Dragons=
In [[Dungeons & Dragons]], elementals are Outsiders (meaning they're not native to the [[Prime Material]]) native to the [[Elemental Planes]], and thus take the form of roughly humanoid creatures made up of elemental (or paraelemental, or quasielemental) matter. This has led to a vast and sprawling family of elementals and elemental-like creatures over the various editions, starting with [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]].

Your standard Elementals are, well, as described; vaguely humanoid masses of elemental matter. They are the most populous of the various elemental beings. The less popular Paraelementals and Quasielementals showed up in AD&D. Basically if you can think of a combination of energy types there should be an elemental for that. 

<gallery>
Air elemental 1e.png|Air 1e
air elemental REF3.png
Earth elemental 1e.png|Earth 1e
Fire elemental 1e.png|Fire 1e
Water elemental 1e.png|Water 1e
air earth MCV1.jpg|Air & Earth 2e
Air elemental Earth elemental MM 2e.png
fire water MCV1.jpg|Fire & Water 2e
Fire elemental Water elemental MM 2e.png
Air elemental Planescape.jpg|Air 2e
Earth elemental Planescape.jpg|Earth 2e
Earth elemental PCS.jpg
Fire elemental Planescape.jpg|Fire 2e
Water elemental Planescape.jpg|Water 2e
Water elemental PCS.jpg
Earth Elemental 3e.jpg|Earth 3e
Elemental 4e.jpg|4e
Air elemental 5e.jpg|Air 5e
Earth elemental 5e.jpg|Earth 5e
Fire elemental 5e.jpg|Fire 5e
Water elemental 5e.jpg|Water 5e
</gallery>

;Paraelementals and Quasielementals
<gallery>
ice paraelemental MM2.jpg|Ice
lightning quasielemental MM2.jpg|Lightning
magma paraelemental MM2.jpg|Magma
ooze paraelemental MM2.jpg|Ooze
smoke paraelemental MM2.jpg|Smoke 1e
Smoke elemental The Awakening.jpg|Smoke 2e
</gallery>

==World Axis==
[[File:Elemental 4e 2.jpg|300px|thumb|left|From left to right: earthwind ravager, thunderblast cyclone, firelasher, and rockfire dreadnought.]]
[[File:Primordial Blot and Ashfrost Elementals.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A Primordial Blot and an Ashfrost Elemental]]
4e's [[World Axis]] houses the standard elementals and [[genie]]s, but also does something a little more unique: it is home to multiple kinds of "mixed" or "hybrid" elementals, rather than a small selection of paraelementals and quasielementals. These can range from things like a geode octopus to a hybrid ice/magma hulk to the Primordial Blot; a mixture of all known kinds of elemental matter/energy that is theorized to be a stillborn and/or fetal planet. It's also home to blight-born demons, a kind of [[fiend]] created from elementals corrupted into [[demon]]s by exposure to the energies of the [[Abyss]]. Some of the more distinctive blight-born are dust demons, which are whole families of [[djinn]] transformed into a singular entity that takes the form of a writhing whirlwind of dirt, dust, teeth and broken bones, and ash-wrought soulburners, which are [[efreet]]i who have had the vital spark sucked out of them, turning them into fire-resistant, cold-vulnerable heat [[vampire]]s.
{{clear}}

==Dark Sun==
[[Dark Sun]] added a bunch of elemental variants, since Athas has no gods so clerics are recast as elemental mages in that setting. It also used the alternative paraelementals of rain, silt, and sun instead of ice, ooze, and ash, respectively.

===Greater/Lesser Elementals===
<gallery>
greater air elemental MC12.jpg|Greater Air
greater earth elemental MC12.jpg|Greater Earth
greater fire elemental MC12.jpg|Greater Fire
greater water elemental MC12.jpg|Greater Water
lesser air earth elemental MC12.jpg|Lesser Air and Earth
lesser fire water elemental MC12.jpg|Lesser Fire and Water
</gallery>

===Elemental Beasts===
<gallery>
air elemental beast.jpg|Air
earth elemental beast.jpg|Earth
fire elemental beast.jpg|Fire
water elemental beast.jpg|Water
magma paraelemental beast.jpg|Magma
rain paraelemental beast.jpg|Rain
silt paraelemental beast.jpg|Silt
sun paraelemental beast.jpg|Sun
</gallery>

==Elemental Kin==
AD&D introduced the concept of "Elemental Kin"; entities that were very strongly related to the elementals, but looked and functioned more like humanoid races rather than spirits possessing matter. Air was home to [[Sylph]]s; Earth was home to [[Pech]]; Fire was home to [[Azer]]s and [[Salamander]]s; Water was home to [[Nereid]]s.

===[[Genie]]===
Genies in D&D are considered a breed of elemental, if very distinct from the standard masses. This is why there are four distinct breeds, one for each element; [[Dao]] of Earth, [[Djinn]] of Air, [[Efreet]] of Fire and [[Marid]] of Water. Plus the fifth "mixed elemental" [[Jann]].

===[[Genasi]]===
[[Planetouched]] with an elemental heritage are called [[Genasi]], and debuted in the Complete Planeswalker's Handbook for [[Planescape]] back in the 1990s. Weirdly, they went on to become particularly associated with the [[Forgotten Realms]] afterwards, to the point their PC writeups for both 3rd and 4th edition were in Realms [[splatbook]]s.

==Dread Elemental (Ravenloft)==
These are standard Earth, Air, Water and Fire Elementals that were summoned into [[Ravenloft]], and were warped into horrible versions of themselves. ''Grave'' Elementals are warped Earth Elementals that are made of grave soil and have the ability to bury people alive with a touch. ''Mist'' Elementals are corrupted air elementals who have the ability to turn people [[Chaotic Evil]] with a touch. ''Blood'' Elementals are tainted Water Elementals who can drain the blood from others to feed themselves. ''Pyre'' Elementals are distorted Fire Elementals who have the ability to either burn through armor (AD&D) or animate corpses as burning [[zombie]]s or [[skeleton]]s (3e).

Fan-made Dread Elemental-Kin appeared in the [[Books of S|Book of Shadows]] netbook; Myst Sylphs, Mist Servants, Crypt Gnomes (corrupted Pech), Gravelings, Heat Stalkers (corrupted Salamanders), Pyre Wyrms (corrupted "Fire Snakes" - larval Salamanders), Bloody Marys (corrupted Nereids) and Scarlet Streams (corrupted AD&D Water Weirds).
<gallery>
Pyre mist elemental MC Ravenloft 1.jpg|Pyre and Mist
Blood grave elemental MC Ravenloft 1.jpg|Blood and Grave
Blood elemental RQ2.jpg|Blood
Dread elemental DoD1.jpg|All four
</gallery>

==Others==
===[[Animental]]===
A creature from AD&D that was updated to 3.5e as a template in [[Dragon Magazine]] #347. An animental is an animal or monster (including monstrous humanoids, like [[medusa]]s) who died and whose spirit was drawn into an Elemental Plane, where it was reincarnated as an elemental version of its former self. This idea probably inspired the Elemental Template in 3rd edition.
<gallery>
Animental MC Planescape3.png|A [[Elemental Planes#Lightning|lightning]] [[medusa]] and [[Elemental Planes#Fire|fire]] [[unicorn]]
ice giant squid Dragon 347.jpg|[[Elemental Planes#Ice|Ice]] [[Kraken|giant squid]]
magma rhinoceros Dragon 347.jpg|[[Elemental Planes#Magma|Magma]] rhinoceros
ooze behir Dragon 347.jpg|[[Elemental Planes#Ooze|Ooze]] [[behir]]
smoke dragonne Dragon 347.jpg|[[Elemental Planes#Smoke|Smoke]] [[dragonne]]
</gallery>

===[[Archomental]]===
The powerful demigod-like rulers of the Elemental Planes.

===[[Archon#Elemental Archons|Elemental Archon/Myrmidon]]===
Introduced in 4e, these are the former soldiers in the armies of the Primordials in the Dawn War, After the gods defeated the Primordials the Archons fell to the service of various elemental lords, both petty and great. They still retain their desire to return their masters to their rightful place in the world and would potentially betray everyone they work for to see this done.

5e refluffed them into the more generic Elemental Myrmidons, making them a neutral allied creature that can be made by conjuring an elemental into a suit of armor.
<gallery>
Earth Archon.jpg |Earth
Fire Archons.jpg |Fire
Ice Archon.jpg |Ice
Water Archons.jpg |Water
Lightning Archons.jpg|Lightning
AIR ELEMENTAL MYRMIDON5e.png|5e Air
EARTH ELEMENTAL MYRMIDON 5e.png|5e Earth
FIRE ELEMENTAL MYRMIDON 5e.png|5e Fire
WATER ELEMENTAL MYRMIDON 5e.png|5e Water
</gallery>

===Crysmal===
Crysmals are psionic earth elementals made of crystals that look kind of like crab-scorpions. They stand about 3 and a half feet high.
<gallery>
crysmal MM2 1e.jpg
crysmal ALQ4.png
crysmal MCAV1.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Elemental Weird]]===
Introduced in AD&D, these were originally portrayed as serpentine Elemental Kin, with only Earth Weirds and Water Weirds existing, but in 3rd edition these were changed into their own unique Nymph-like elemental [[Oracle]]s, with one for each plane. The original Elemental Weird became the Lesser Elemental Weird, a larval state, and didn't get acknowledged until [[Dragon Magazine]] #347.
<gallery>
water weird 1e.jpg|1e
water weird MCV2.jpg|2e
Earth weird dragon mountain.png|Earth Weird
Earth weird MCAV1.jpg|Now in Color!
Elemental Weirds (Air and Water).jpg|3e Air & Water
Elemental Weirds (Earth and Fire).jpg|3e Earth & Fire
water weird 5e.jpg|5e
</gallery>

===Elemental Vermin===
Introduced in [[Al-Qadim]], these are small animals native to the four Elemental Planes and which basically serve as their home environment's form of pest. They consist of the armadillo-like Duster (Air), koboldish rat-dog-lizard Crawler (earth), alligator hatchling-like Flameling (fire) and tailed toad-like Spitter (water). Theoretically, they could serve as [[familiar]]s.
<gallery>
duster City of Delights.png|Duster (Air)
duster MCAV1.jpg
crawler City of Delights.png|Crawler (Earth)
crawler MCAV1.jpg
flameling City of Delights.png|Flameling (Fire)
flameling MCAV1.jpg
spitter City of Delights.png|Spitter (Water)
spitter MCAV1.jpg
</gallery>

===Elemental of Chaos & Law===
[[Mystara]] has ''Elementals of Chaos'' and ''Elementals of Law'', who seek to further the cause of their respective alignments on the elemental planes. 
<gallery>
air earth chaos elemental MC Mystara.jpg|Eolian (Air Chaos) and Erdeen (Earth Chaos)
fire water chaos elemental MC Mystara.jpg|Pyrophor (Fire Chaos) and Undine (Water Chaos)
air earth law elemental MC Mystara.jpg|Anemo (Air Law) and Kryst (Earth Law)
fire water law elemental MC Mystara.jpg|Helion (Fire Law) and Hydrax (Water Law)
</gallery>

===Elder Elemental===
Intruduced in 5e's ''Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes'' and composed entirely of retconned monsters from previous editions, these elementals are apocalyptic forces of nature capable of razing entire cities to dust. 

The four elder elementals are: [[Leviathan]]s, massive serpents made of water capable of creating tidal waves; [[Phoenix]]es, birds of fire that explode upon death and actively seek to spread fire and destruction; Elder [[Tempest]]s, feathered winged serpents with the power of a thunderstorm; and [[Zaratan]]s, turtles of earth that will probably crush your entire village underfoot without even realizing it. 
<gallery>
Elder Tempest5e.png|Elder Tempest
Zaratan5e.png|Zaratan
Phoenix5e.png|Phoenix
Leviathan5e.png|Leviathan
</gallery>

===Fundamental===
Weird elemental creatures from AD&D that look like a pair of bat wings with no body between them.
<gallery>
air earth fundamental MC Mystara.jpg|Air and Earth
fire water fundamental MC Mystara.jpg|Fire and Water
fundamental MCPS3.png|All four
</gallery>

===Firetail===
Fire elementals with ADHD. They will often forget what they're doing and run off somewhere else, completely ignoring their allies. They communicate by changing the color of their flames. Firetails with spellcasting abilities are called ''tshala''. 
<gallery>
Firetail MC11.jpg
</gallery>

===Fogwarden===
A wraith-like being composed of fog, ice and lightning that inhabits cold climates. It feeds off strong emotions, especially fear. Feeding isn't hard at all because it has a 30 foot ''aura of fear''. Any metal weapon that touches it must make a saving throw ([[Wat|items can make saving throws?]]) or be instantly destroyed. On top of this, it also animates all dead bodies in a 15 foot radius as minions, and these zombies ''don't count as undead'' and thus can't be turned.
<gallery>
fogwarden Dungeon 54.jpg
fogwarden MCAV4.jpg
</gallery>

===[[Grue]]===
Small, malevolent, elemental spirits, with one for each of the four Elemental Planes.

===Magmin===
Magmen, renamed Magmins in 3e, are impish magma paraelementals who loving setting things on fire.
<gallery>
magman A4 2.png
magman A4 1.png
magman 1e.webp
magmin 3e.webp
magmin 5e.webp
</gallery>

===[[Mephit]]===
Small, weak, obnoxious elemental [[imp]]s.

===Mihstu===
Air elementals that can extend up to 4 talon-tipped tentacles from their misty bodies. Haven't been seen since 1e.
<gallery>
mihstu MM2.jpg
mihstu monster card.jpg
</gallery>

===Mudman===
Mudmen are, oddly, ''not'' an elemental from the [[Elemental Planes|Plane of Ooze]], but are spontaneously formed from mud that has a high concentration of magic. They appeared in 1e, 2e, and 4e in [[Dungeon Magazine]] #214, where their lore was changed so that they actually are elementals.
<gallery>
mud-man 1e.png
mud-man MCV1.jpg
mudman MM 2e.png
mudman Dungeon 214.jpg
</gallery>

===Mudtiger===
Ooze paraelementals created by [[Skip Williams]] for his prequel module A0 that appeared in WotC's 2013 re-release of [[Scourge of the Slave Lords]]. Their biggest surprise is an AoE electric attack that magnetizes metal weapons and armor.
<gallery>
mudtiger A0-A4.png
</gallery>

===Nature Elemental===
Debuting in the ''Ruins of Zhentil Keep'' boxed set, the nature elemental is made out of all four elements plus the "fifth element" of spirit or life. It looks like a really big earth elemental covered in vegetation, with small animals crawling around on it. It is very hard to kill because it regenerates back to ''full health'' every round.

The nature elemental has a big influence on its immediate environment: Plants grow to maturity almost instantly; animals are attracted to it; Water is purified; and all signs of civilization disappear.
<gallery>
nature elemental RoZK.png
nature elemental MCAV2.jpg
MCAV2 cover.png
</gallery>

===Necromental===
The 3.5e book ''Libris Mortis'' introduced [[undead]] elementals, which it calls necromentals.
<gallery>
undead earth.jpg|Earth Necromental
</gallery>

===Sandling===
Sandlings are amorphous masses of moving sand from the plane of Earth. They reproduce by budding. They don't like water, as getting sufficiently wet makes them slower and weaker.
<gallery>
sandling A4 2.png
sandling A4 1.png
sandling MCV2.jpg
Pech Sandling MM 2e.png
</gallery>

===Sandman===
Unlike sandlings, Sandmen are humanoid. Most of them are enslaved by [[Dao]], and are sent the the Prime to capture more slaves.
<gallery>
sandman ALQ2.png
Sand man MCAV1.jpg
</gallery>

===Spirit of the Air===
Divine servants of gods who control air and wind. They look like monkeys with bat wings for hands.
<gallery>
spirit of the air PCS.jpg
</gallery>

===Vortex===
From the Plane of Air. A floating sphere the size of a baseball that creates whirlwinds by flying around rapidly.
<gallery>
vortex PCS.jpg
</gallery>

===Wind Walker===
Two different air elementals called Wind Walkers have appeared in D&D. The first is a humanoid with two pairs of wings and a snakelike lower body that appeared in the 4th set of AD&D 1e ''Monster Cards''. The other is a floating heap of serpents and appeared in the 2e [[Al-Qadim]] adventure ''Assassin Mountain''.
<gallery>
Wind walker monster card.jpg
wind walker ALQ2.png
wind walker MCAV1.jpg
</gallery>

=Pathfinder=
All OGL elementals are maintained from 3.5. The elemental type no longer exists, instead being a subtype of Outsider that carries most of the rules baggage of the original type. Mostly this just frees the writers from  having to saying "outsiders and elementals" a bunch since most effects that worked on one worked on both. Pathfinder has since added further elemental types.

Aether Elementals are beings made of translucent, multicolor threads that embody Aether, the "element" that contains [[Force Mage|magical force]] and telekinesis. They can be invisible whenever they want. Small ones make for some of the best familiars in the game since they're invisible and their telekinetic abilities scale based on their master's hit die.

Paraelementals were eventually stolen from D&D, with new statistics since they weren't OGL. Since they weren't OGL they're also never actually referred to as "paraelemental" in published material, but no alternate name has been printed, so everyone outside of Paizo still calls them that. While Ice (Water+Air) and Magma (Earth+Fire) were natural enough combos to copy outright, Mud (earth+water) replaced ooze. Smoke elementals, oddly enough, don't exist even though an [[Elementalist]] Wizard sub-school for the combination does. Pathfinder also has the oddball of Lightning Elementals. Formed of giant thunderstorms on the elemental plane of air. Even more simple minded and aggressive than typical elementals.  None of these are particularly exceptional as a familiar.
<gallery>
PF Water elemental.jpeg|Water
PF Water elemental 2.jpeg
Fire elemental B1.png|Fire
PF Fire elemental 1.jpeg
earth elemental B1.png|Earth
PF Earth elemental 3.jpeg
air elemental B1.png|Air
PF Air elemental 1.jpeg
PF Air elemental 2.jpeg
PF Air elemental 3.jpeg
Ice elemental B2 PF.png|Ice
Lightning elemental B2 PF.png|Lightning
Magma elemetal B2 PF.png|Magma
PF Mud elemental.jpeg|Mud
Mud elemental B2 PF.png
PF Living Sandstorm.jpeg|Sandstorm
</gallery>

=Battletech=
In [[BattleTech]], [[Clan Elemental|Elementals]] are the genetically engineered infantry of the [[The Clans|Clans]], bred over dozens of generations to operate Clan [[Power Armor#Battletech Battle Armor|Battle Armor]]. They are the largest and strongest of the three trueborn phenotypes; with the others being Pilots and MechWarriors.

=Monstergirls=
{{Monstergirls}}

As with every other kind of monster, elementals sometimes get the monstergirls treatment too. It helps that because of how generic the term is, any woman with the right [[elementalism]] powers and coloration could easily be passed off as an elemental monstergirl. It doesn't hurt that [[Dungeons & Dragons]] also introduced the [[Genasi]] race, who're supposed to descend from unions of humans and elementals, so technically a monstrous woman version of an elemental is canon in D&D.

It helps that it literally comes with the standard portrayal of an elemental - a creature influenced by its elemental symbolism - and all it's really doing is putty a sexy skin over a standard concept.

In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], the term "Elemental" is used to cover various elemental spirits - some with a rather tenuous connection. For example, the [[Kitsune]]-bi is considered an elemental.

Naturally, the core four are well represented. [[Gnome]]s are earth elementals who take the form of curvaceous women made out of living earth and stone. They are calm, gentle creatures whose presence enriches the land around them, making it healthy and strong, and giving them an affinity for plant mamono. [[Sylph]]s are playful, free-spirited, green-skinned & haired sylvan spirits who serve the setting as air elementals. Undines are water elementals whose bodies are technically [[slime]]-like, being comprised of animated water, but which can assume a solid human-like thickness to better interact with humans; calm-natured and devoted, they are a gentle race. Finally, the role of fire elementals is filled not by [[Salamander]]s - in this setting a kind of [[lizardfolk]] - but by creatures called Ignises, hotheaded, fiery-tempered and passionate spirits who appear as naked human women with flame swirling around their bodies and preserving their modesty.

Then... there are the ''other'' elementals. Dark Elementals are embodiments of the dark, demonic energies that the Demon Queen is using to transform the world into her infernal paradise; their very presence can transform whole villages into dens of monstergirls. For reasons known only to the author, whilst the other elementals have more inhuman forms, Dark Elementals appear as naked lolis floating atop a ball of inky-black slime. [[Yuki-Onna]]s are considered "Ice Elementals", but that role is more directly filled by Glacies and their Ice Queen rulers; crystaline-aspected and coldly beautiful women of pale-blue flesh and icy shells who seek to steal the metaphysical warmth from humans for themselves. Finally, the Dorome is a dopey lustful [[slime]]-like elemental of living mud, apparently created by accident when too much demonic energy and wet soul goes into the process of embodying a gnome - the wording is highly awkward and difficult to understand.

<center>
<gallery>
MGE Gnome.jpg|Earth
MGE Sylph.jpg|Wind
MGE Ignis.jpg|Fire
MGE Undine.jpg|Water
MGE Glacies.jpg|Ice
MGE Ice Queen.jpg|More Ice
MGE Dorome.jpg|Mud
</gallery>
</center>

{{D&D-Outsiders}}

[[Category:Monsters]]