Elemental Weird

Weirds of Air and Water.

Weirds of Earth and Fire.

Elemental Weirds are, as the name implies, an elemental race from the history of Dungeons & Dragons. Uniquely - for elementals - they've changed drastically between Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition.

They debuted as the "Elemental-kin: Water Weird"; an intelligent but usually hostile water elemental that could shapeshift between the form of a mass of water and a snake made of solid water. It had more than a touch of Gotcha Monster. This version debuted in the 1975 WinterCon "Tsojconth" for Dungeons & Dragons, and was later included in the first edition Monster Manual (as chaotic-evil), crediting Ernie Gygax for its creator.

Rose Estes featured a vicious and territorial Water Weird in Dungeon of Dread. Meanwhile Tom Moldvay did not include them in his Expert Set; neither would Frank Mentzer. Tsojconth also-meanwhile would get revised into S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth - swapping the Weird for a marid (of course we couldn't know that). So, for many of us, Estes' book was the only place we'd meet 'em. Estes' Weird wasn't a killer; it didn't act evil. All those kids coming into the hobby with this Weird in mind didn't believe the Manual's "Chaotic Evil" guff. The Water Grue "Vardigg" ended up taking the Weird's niche as a truly sadistic elemental-kin.

2nd edition redid the Weird in the Monstrous Compendium Volume Two, which got reprinted in that Monstrous Manual under the "elemental, water kin" heading. An Earth Weird appeared in the Dragon Mountain boxed set and was then reprinted in the Monstrous Compendium Annual Volume 1. And Bruce Cordell put a serpentine Bone Weird in Return to the Tomb of Horrors.

In 3e, the Monster Manual II instead stat(t)ed the Elemental Weird to be a species of elementals found all over the Elemental Planes, taking the forms of beautiful women made up of elemental matter, be it Earth, Air, Water or Fire. These creatures are described as elemental oracles, acting as seers and fortune tellers. This version of the Elemental Weird would receive an Ecology of the Elemental Weird article in Dragon Magazine issue #347, which also brought back the original Water Weird by stating that infant Elemental Weirds - statted here as "Lesser Weirds" - spend their lives as snake-like elementals tied to a mass of elemental matter, until eventually they mature and transform into the shapely elemental nymphs. Frostburn would expand the list of four elemental weirds with two new ones from the Paraelemental Plane of Cold; Ice Weirds and Snow Weirds.

As of 5e, they are back to their original snakelike form. Or at least the Water Weird is, as it's the only weird to show up in 5e.

Gallery

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  1e

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  2e

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  Earth Weird

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  Now in Color!

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  5e