User:NtCarlson/Guide to Elementals

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Minor Elementals[edit | edit source]

Elementals[edit | edit source]

Conjure Elemental Conjure Elemental when used with a 5th level spell slot can summon one of four types of elementals: Air, Earth, Fire, or Water. All four types have the same general kit:

  • A basic melee attack that inflicts a status effect without a save.
  • A multiattack that is stronger when attacking targets inflicted with the above status effect.
  • An area of effect attack that inflicts a different, often unique, status effect.
  • A bonus action 18m teleport that can be used at will.

The air elemental deviates from this and winds up being the weakest type as a result.

Stats[edit | edit source]

Elemental HP Icon.png hit points Armour Class Armour Class
(w/ Mage Armour Mage Armour)
Initiative Initiative Attack ability Spellcasting ability Damage immunities Damage resistances
Air Elemental Air Elemental 90 15
(18)
5 Strength (16) Intelligence (6) Damage TypesPoison Damage TypesPhysical (non-magical), Damage TypesLightning, Damage TypesThunder
Earth Elemental Earth Elemental 126 17
(17)
-1 Strength (20) Intelligence (5) Damage TypesPoison Damage TypesPhysical (non-magical)
Fire Elemental Fire Elemental 102 13
(16)
3 Dexterity (17) Intelligence (6) Damage TypesFire -
Water Elemental Water Elemental 114 14
(15)
2 Strength (18) Strength (18) - Damage TypesPhysical (non-magical), Damage TypesAcid

The reason for the different impact of Mage Armour Mage Armour is that some elementals have more than 10 base AC. Earth Elemental has 18 (with a -1 Dexterity modifier) and Water Elemental has 12 (with a +2 Dexterity modifier). Mage Armour increases the base AC to 13 so it doesn't help the Earth Elemental at all, and only gives 1 AC to the Water Elemental.

The spellcasting ability is used to determine the save DC on the area of effect attack. This value defaults to Intelligence and only for the Water Elemental was this default changed. This means the AoE attacks for the other 3 elementals will have pitiful DCs.

Basic attacks[edit | edit source]

With the exception of the Air Elemental, all the elementals have a basic melee attack that inflicts a 2 turn status effect without a save, so long as the attack hits. This status effect is required to unlock the full power of the corresponding multiattack ability.

Elemental Attack Attack bonus Damage Inflicts Additional properties
Earth Elemental Earth Elemental Soil-Clogged Slam Soil-Clogged Slam 9 2d6 + 6Damage TypesBludgeoning Prone Prone Creates a small pool of mud centered around the target
Fire Elemental Fire Elemental Smouldering Touch Smouldering Touch 7 2d6Damage TypesFire Burning Burning -
Water Elemental Water Elemental Slam Slam 8 5Damage TypesBludgeoning + 2d6Damage TypesCold Chilled Chilled Creates a small puddle of water centered around the target

Instead of a melee attack, the Air Elemental gets Gushing Air Gushing Air. This is a ranged attack with two projectiles that can be targeted separately like Eldritch Blast Eldritch Blast. The damage per projectile is 2d6+1Damage TypesThunder and is halved on a DC 15  Dexterity saving throw. This attack does not inflict the condition required for the improved multiattack damage.

Multiattack[edit | edit source]

All elementals have a 2-hit multiattack that doubles the damage dice when targeting enemies inflicted with certain conditions. These multiattacks have a once-per-turn cooldown, so if you opt to Haste Haste your elemental, it can still only multiattack once.

Elemental Attack bonus Target condition Normal damage Damage vs. targets inflicted with target condition
Air Elemental Air Elemental 6 Shocked Shocked 2d4 + 3Damage TypesSlashing + 2d4Damage TypesLightning 4d4 + 3Damage TypesSlashing + 4d4Damage TypesLightning
Earth Elemental Earth Elemental 9 Prone Prone 2d4 + 5Damage TypesBludgeoning 4d4 + 5Damage TypesBludgeoning
Fire Elemental Fire Elemental 7 Burning Burning 2d4 + 3Damage TypesBludgeoning + 2d4Damage TypesFire 4d4 + 3Damage TypesBludgeoning + 4d4Damage TypesFire
Water Elemental Water Elemental 8 Chilled Chilled 2d4 + 4Damage TypesBludgeoning + 2d4Damage TypesCold 4d4 + 4Damage TypesBludgeoning + 4d4Damage TypesCold

The Earth Elemental doesn't deal any elemental damage on its multiattack and doesn't receive additional physical damage to compensate. On paper, this makes its version of multiattack the weakest, but that title actually belongs to the Air Elemental.

Air Elemental's multiattack requires the Shocked Shocked condition, which is extremely rare. Aside from Air Elemental's extremely unreliable area of effect attack, the only way for players to inflict the condition is with The Jolty Vest. This essentially locks Air Elementals out of receiving the improved damage on their multiattacks.

The other three conditions can be consistently applied in numerous ways, either by party members or by the elemental itself. This is particularly true of Burning Burning and Prone Prone which have a huge number of sources. If you plan for it, you can reliably get the improved multiattack damage with the other elementals.

Also note that Chilled Chilled inflicts vulnerability to Damage TypesCold damage, so Water Elemental's multiattack damage is even better.


Myrmidons[edit | edit source]